Brief

Five London train operators see higher cancellations after nationalisation

Data shows increased cancellations and late trains for the five London services taken into public ownership since May 2025.

By Felo News Desk · Published Sun, 18 Oct 2026 12:58:26 GMT

Five train companies that serve London have been placed under public ownership as part of the Labour Government’s railway nationalisation programme, and early performance data shows a rise in cancellations and delays, according to the Standard.

The operators now run by Great British Railways (GBR) are Govia Thameslink Railway, c2c, Greater Anglia, South Western Railway (SWR) and Chiltern Railways. LNER and Southeastern were already public when Labour came to power in July 2024. At that time, 23% of passenger journeys in Britain were on publicly owned services.

Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures for the 12 months after each takeover indicate that all five newly nationalised operators have higher cancellation rates than before. SWR, which serves London Waterloo, saw its cancellation rate climb from 3.6% to 4.28% – an increase of about 19% – by August 2026. c2c’s rate rose from 1.73% to 2.19%, a 27% jump. Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains and Govia Thameslink Railway also recorded increases of roughly 20%, 28% and 5% respectively.

Late‑running trains have similarly worsened. Each of the five operators now reports a larger share of services arriving more than three minutes late compared with the period immediately before nationalisation. The biggest relative rise in late stops was observed on c2c services.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was photographed at Brighton Station beside a GBR‑branded train, underscoring the government’s push for a more reliable, efficient and integrated rail network. The Standard notes that while the policy enjoys support from almost two‑thirds of Britons in a YouGov poll, the early performance data does not yet show the promised improvements in reliability.

Key facts

• Five London‑serving train operators have been nationalised since May 2025 (standard.co.uk)
• South Western Railway's cancellation rate rose from 3.6% to 4.28% by August 2026 (standard.co.uk)
• c2c's cancellation rate increased from 1.73% to 2.19% in the same period (standard.co.uk)
• All five operators now have higher proportions of trains more than three minutes late (standard.co.uk)
• Labour’s nationalisation plan is backed by about two‑thirds of Britons in a YouGov poll (standard.co.uk)

Sources

• [1] standard.co.uk — originally reported as “Are London's nationalised train services actually any more reliable?”